Springfield daily republic. [volume] (Springfield, O. [Ohio]) 1887-1888, 1887-12-28
CUSTOM HOUSE CLERKS.
Dimeulty Of Computing Compound Dutiss
Driven Mad by Figures.

Di0culty of Computing Compound Duties.
Driven Mad by Figures.
| There Is one department in the custom
house for which there are not many as
pirants, though the pay is good. 1t is the
hQuidating department ele work is
hard and p,izzkng, and it requires II man
! OF peculiar temperament to make his way
In IL. The liquidating Office is sle place
! where the final calculation OF the duties
to be paid Oh imported goods is made
| When the goods are first entered a rough
estimate II the duties rs per invoice Is
made aud the duties are deposited Then.
| sftersehe work Of the surveyors office il
completed and the appraiser has examined
tie goods aud placed on the invoices their
classification and rate OF duty, the work
Of the liquidating Office begins.
One VI the liquidating clerks, In speak
ing u \ reporter about the work Of the
of{icc, said:
ITO Que who Is not acquainted by act
ual experience with the work, it is n hard
matter to explain it. have never known
such difficult work In the first place the
invoices come u You in every known Ian
guage, and the measures Of quantity and
value are expressed in the same tongue rs
that In which the invoice is written. All
these, In the first place, have to be re-
duced To American measures and values,
and Is trying work. Then man in our
department has to he walking encyclo-
pedia VI Commercial and trade TECHNICAL
ties.
''One OF the most puzzling things in
our work Is the figuring out OF the duty
on articles which pay compound tax
Take for instance dress goods The tax
II 3 cents n yard and 35 per cent ad
valOren,, or 7cents a yard and 40 per cent.
according Ia whether the value is over or
under 20 cents yard. Say we have
consignment Of 1000 yards Of dress goods
from England which are billed in the in
voice at shillings and 6 pence, less 81,
favorite discount less 3 per cent. less 2
per cent. and with charges say Of s12.
The charges must be deducted and dis
counts taken of in order To find out Just
what the cost per yard is, and on this the
duty is assessed. This is simple opera
ton compared to many we have.
On all worsted goods there is specific
and AL valOrem duty for goods weighing
under four ounces a yard. and another
for goods over four ounces, and on some
other woolen goods we have to find out
whether they cost 40, GO OF 50 cents
pound, because different rates of duty are
charged have had sometimes to maxi.
as many rs twenty-five different calcula-
tions to ascertain what the rate of duty
was on a certain line OF goods. We can't
go by the appraisers calculation at all;
his work is done hurriedly in many cases,
and We can't afford to trust him.
About the most tedious work we have
is on invoices Of glass. 1t comes in all
sizes and weights, and there is different
duty for each size and weight. ! have
known OF invoices that required the max.
ing OF 10, ,OCO figures to ascertain the duty.
Sugar is another tedious article to figure
on. 1t is graded by polariscope test, and
different rate of duty is charged for every
degree above IS.
"Wines. liquors and tobacco all have
compound duties, which, as ] said, give
Us the hardest work The work never
gets easy, as puzzlers are liable to come
up at any time. There are men in the
Office who have been there fifteen years,
and they will frequently come across some
thing In An invoice which they have never
met before. It Is like sitting down to
solve Chinese puzzle and keecins ut Il
for eight or ten hours every day
ut helps q man very little TO be
mathematician. Young Mather. VIII"
committed suicide. was in the office, and
was splendid mathematician, but he was
of . nervous temperament, and don't
doubt that Puzzling over some Of those in
fernal over or under four ounce invoices
drove him zy."--New York Press.